Bhubaneswar, May 15 (IANS): The Odisha government on Monday said 1.97 lakh Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) units have been established in the state, creating 5.96 lakh jobs in the last four years.

These units have been established with an investment of Rs 10,320 crore in the last four years from 2014-15 to 2017-18, said MSME Minister Prafulla Samal.

Altogether, 3.22 lakh MSMEs have been established with an investment of Rs 15,959 crore and employment generation to 13.35 lakh persons till March 2018.

The Minister said 3,752 motivational camps have been organised across the state to motivate 323,451 youth for setting up MSMEs, while 20,049 youths have been provided with entrepreneurship training under Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDP).

District Level Single Window Clearance Authorities have approved 542 projects between April 2015 and March 2018 with a total project cost of Rs 2,040 crore and employment potential to 21,730 persons, Samal informed.

Out of these, 67 projects have already started production and 119 are under implementation, the Minister added.